Why You Shouldn’t Write Your Posts Using Word

What do you see when you look at your blog posts? The same font and formatting on every post? Or are they looking real messy with a range of different fonts?

Most likely you weren’t warned of the dangers of copying and pasting text written in Word into blog post! What happens is the text you paste from Word brings in lots of extra code. Normally this makes your post’s font and formatting look unattractive plus may add extra words you haven’t written. In extreme cases it can prevent your blog loading in Internet Explorer.

Let me show you!

This sentence was written in Microsoft Word then copied and pasted into a blog post. Right now looks perfectly fine.

Now look what happens when I click on the HTML tab. See how much code was transferred from Word by just copying and pasting one sentence.

Same can happen when you copy and paste text from emails, other word processor applications, websites etc.

Safest solution is always write your posts in your blog dashboard. However if you do need to copy and paste text into your post then the best method to remove any extra code is using a plain text editor like:

NotePad – PC (Programs > Accessories)

TextEdit – Macs

Just paste the text into the text editor and then copy the text from the text editor and paste into your post. This strips out all code and prevents formatting problems. Please note pasting into a text editor does remove all links to websites.

NOTE: There is a Paste from Word button inside your dashboard which is meant to be used for this purpose. However I’ve found it doesn’t always remove the extra code.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Please remember to explain the reasons why you shouldn’t copy and paste text directly into blog posts when you are teaching others how to blog.

What tip(s) do you wish someone had told you when you first started blogging?

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I know this post was written several years ago, but what your users fail to realize is that MSWord was set up to print documents, meaning what you are typing was intended for print. The code that is transferred is the printer code — instructions for the printer on how to print the document. It was not intended for copying and pasting into an html page. MSWord has fixed this over the years by adding non-formatting options, but you should always paste the writing into a text editor to strip code before placing it on a web page for use. Most web programs come with a CMS system that allows for a visual editor so that you write it there, instead of copying and pasting from Word.

Obviously a problem with posing to blogs with word, though comments above offer solutions. Here’s MY problem. I want students to do some large projects like a long paper, powerpoint, stuff like that. I have an RSS feed on my own blog so I can track when my students post to it. Thus, potentially I can track submissions by students. Wrting a paper on a blog seems ridiculous. One reader comments about a program that probably removes code, and allows you to post. I don’t want to do anything until I get this figured out. Any suggestions.

@marknair59, This latest version of WordPress that Edublogs now uses does automatically delete the bad code from Word — so that definitely has helped.

In terms of your other question it really depends on what you are wanting them to do in the assignment. It may be a combination of them writing reflections on a blog and writing the final product on a wiki is the best option. However it is hard to know without more specific details in terms of what you are waiting them to write.

@grw04002 @Phil Hart @Ken Allen If @grw04002 means this blog http://mrwaldron.edublogs.org/ and the latest post on the blog – he is correct – there is definitely no extra code in his latest post. Understandably if he pasted directly from Word into the Visual Editor of a blog post he would ask why I am saying this if there is no extra code.

So we have two choices 1) he is right 2) he is doing something that is removing the code. Time to test! And guess what – testing it looks like he is correct. To me it looks like with this version of WordPress MU – which is WPMU 2.8.2 it is removing the extra code. Here is my test post – Testing Word. I tried it several times and I’m not getting any code being transferred by just copy & pasting directing into the visual editor.

Could some one also please test and confirm with me they are getting the same results?

Interesting facts about this. WordPress MU is still including the Paste from Word button in their advanced formating toolbar. If this is correct – are they aware it is no longer needed? WordPress.com support material currently still provides exactly the same advice as me – although their support material is for an older version of WPMU.

@Sue Waters, I got a similar, though not identical, result. It certainly seems to clean up all the extraneous MS-Word clutter, and it translates appropriately bold, and dumps strange fonts, but it does not accept colours 🙁 . On the whole, I think this version is a major improvement on its predecessor. 🙂 🙂

@Phil Hart, can you give me a link or title to the draft post in your dashboard so I can look at it?

mmmm well the good news is now if people do copy/paste from Word into an Edublogs blog it is extremely unlikely to now cause problems in Internet Explorer. However that doesn’t apply to all blog software, and may only apply to this specific version of WordPress MU. Thoughts?

This is similar to a problem we frequently have at work when different versions of software are being used by different people. Of course, it causes problems (and arguments!)

I have been unable to impress on (some of) my colleagues that mutual respect and a bit of trust goes a long way in keeping relationships open sufficient to resolve problems that arise due to this.

A couple of weeks back I was about to address 60 teachers and facilitate a discussion on cybersafety. I’d selected a series of videos to spark discussion. Naturally I arrived 45 minutes earlier so I could check out the equipment set up in the discussion room. I discovered that the laptop there would not play any of my vids. When I asked for assistance I was regarded as someone who really didn’t know how to use the equipment for all the laptops were set up the same way including the one set up in the discussion room – and I should have known that.

Not!

A quick check by an irritated IT manager confirmed that I was right. The problem was quickly resolved thereafter.

The issue I bring here is that we need to think in terms of communication and possibilities as well as respect our fellows. Not everyone is using the same equipment/version/type of software. Not everyone uses these the same way either. Nothing new here.

To argue that I am wrong when I say, “this is what I’ve found when I did it”, is as helpful as arguing about the right to have an opinion in the first place. Perhaps we should be more inquisitive when someone finds something different from ourselves.

Glad we’re closer to resolving something here!

And good on you Sue for being persistent – the hallmark of a true scientist!

@grw04002 @Phil Hart @Ken Allen I learnt a long time ago with blogs if someone says or implies opposite of what you thought was true to never discount.

Always investigate! Because more often than not — they aren’t wrong and further investigation was definitely needed. So thanks @grw04002 for bringing it to our attention…and based on this what advice would/should I give others re-Word — no idea 🙁 Still pondering.

@Sue Waters – I don’t know if there is a ‘help’ here. But many decades ago, when I was drafting research reports and a thesis, my good supervisor, Ted, was always ready with advice.

He didn’t criticise, but proffered ideas and suggestions. One of his best was in the use of language in scientific reports – I think his advice could also help in reporting on blogs.

Ted explained that if a finding seemed to lead to a conclusion, rather than state that conclusion it was better to say, “it suggests that . . .”.

If an observation tended to refute a claim, rather than say the claim was in error it was better to say, “the observations did not support the claim”.

If almost unequivocal evidence was amassed refuting a claim, it was collegial to suggest that a closer look at the evidence was in order but to admit that there was still margin for more observation to be made.

Humility goes a long way with this, but it’s hard to be humble. I know how difficult it is, for I’m the most humble person I know. 🙂

@Ken Allan, I guess I was coming at from the point that all observers were until very recently reporting the same behaviour. (As an investigator, I looked at the source code and understood why it was behaving in the manner reported, but that is merely an aside.)

I think you comment is entirely true when it comes to investigating natural systems. BTW: I am still waiting for Higg’s boson to put in an unequivocal appearance. 😉

I have to admit that having followed this discussion since January (!) and contributed to it, that there seems to be no resolution forthcoming. We all seem to have our own beliefs.

Clearly there is a disparity between some of what’s being reported here. Those who support the direct pasting from Word seem just as resolute in their belief as those who do not.

It cannot be a factor of how one holds one’s mouth at the time, geographic location or belief held.

Surely there must be a simple (dare I say Scientific) way of showing whether or not rogue html is lifted from Word with the text when it is copied! It should be as easy to show if the html, if present, is deposited with the text when it is pasted.

@Ken Allan, Thanks for your comment. Been there, done that project. Being an HTML junkie myself, I can report with complete confidence that every time that I have copied and pasted from Word, the HTML formatting from within Word gets transferred via the clipboard into the post. 🙁

Kia ora mledarkness /p> p class=”MsoNormal”>![endif]–This is just a mock-up to show how what it looks like pasting across from Word. I havnet mangaed to run it through the splellchkcher, but it’s looking good just as it is. /p> p class=”MsoNormal”> p class=”MsoNormal”>Catchya later ![endif]–
from Middle-earth
(Sorry Sue 🙂

I don’t agree. Word is a great. Maybe if this site had word processing, I would just use it. Since it doesn’t I have to resort to using Word, a program I like. I’d rather have tons of html and have it be grammatically correct than use this and have there be tons of mistakes.

Sure Word is great for spell checking – just make sure you put it through NotePad to remove the code. Remember that some of the code it brings in can totally cause Internet Explorer to lock up which means that it doesn’t matter how well you have written your post – many of your readers won’t be able to read.

If everyone was able to use FireFox and Flock we wouldn’t have this problems 🙂

I think it was dogtrax who recommended I turn my Word docs into pdf. I downloaded http://www.cutepdf.com/ , the free version. I write the doc, select file – print – then choose Cutepdf as the printer option. It doesn’t print the doc, just saves it to My Documents with a Microsoft pdf file name. When I want to post it, I upload it as an image and choose the pdf version from my doc file.
I love the program for a couple of reasons. The biggest one being that it is a smaller file added to my Edublog account. The other was my docs look the way they are created. Of course the product is a link and not an embedded doc. I create a newsletter each week that I want posted to my blog. I can’t get that accomplished with copy pasting Word doc as is.

Thanks to everyone’s contribution. I had a situation where I wanted to transfer a Word doc into a blog. The original doc was on a template and even though WordPress has the option to upload a Word doc, it didn’t like the template and threw things out of wack. It was very frustrating trying to fix it up and seemed to defy me as it would revert back. Next I tried a table (in Word first) it imported the table ok but I didn’t want all the table lines showing. I guess I will need to create the look I want in html? Any other options?

Hmm, I was actually trying to create a tabulated document using a table to hold it and then I wanted to make the lines invisible (as can be done in Word). It didn’t work when I uploaded it as as Word doc in the blog. I don’t know if there is a way to do this, haven’t come across it. In the end, I painfully re-typed the document changing the format to suit, as I had already spent so much time messing with code and messing it up … The other thing I discovered I could not do, was put in extra line spacing. Putting a html didn’t work. In the end I picked up a tip on a wordpress forum to enter
x
x
x
and then turn make them white font. That did the trick!

The web was first conceived as a vehicle for exchanging content. I maintain that the web had, and Web 2 still has, this as its FIRST priority.

Then computers became more powerful, and so presentation was possible as a second priority – we got fancy with colours and layouts, particularly with the use of <table> tags (and I had to use my knowledge of how this web server works to get that to display properly).

Then WYSIWYG editors came in, (with Microsoft Word as a Johnny-come-lately), with all the extraneous tags (clutter) that they throw in just for the sake of it. has this affected content? NO! has this affected presentation? Yes, so you need to know what you are doing if you are going to use anything other than pure HTML coupled with a knowledge of how the relevent web server works – this is consistent with Sue original (and honourable) post on the matter. Can we avoid clutter? Generally not – go to your favourite home page, view the source, and you may be astounded at the amount of clutter that you see.

When I first created my blog, I didn’t even realise that you couldn’t view it in Internet Explorer for months and months.

That extra text from Word was really messing things up. I still write in Word though, as I find it the most comfortable. Just when I paste it into the text editor in wordpress, I manually switch it over to html view, and delete that big chunk of code at the start.

Having the mobile computer lab in class once a week means we type some posts on the class computer’s Word program. Thanks for the tip about pasting Word text into the text editor and copying from there. It will help.

I have always used Word, but was quick to find the problems you mention with what I call the junk being carried across. The ouchy thing about this junk is that some versions of some browsers don’t show it up and other browsers actually display the html on the screen, would you believe. It was very disheartening to see one of my posts in another browser, when it looked perfectly good in Firefox. At the same time, it was a good lesson and an early warning.

I have to say that I very quickly adopted the practice of pasting into Notepad and then lifting the text from Notepad into Dashboard. I do ALL my format in Dashboard – font, colour, size, alignment, bulleting, indents – including putting in the links to sites.

Why do I continue to compose posts in Word?

Composing in Word is convenient. I can compose without logging on to the Internet. I can save a draft and I don’t have to log on to the Internet to work on it at a later time. If the site goes down, or the Internet has a poblem (for whatever reason) I can still work on the draft. I also use many of the features in Word that are absent or less rigorous in Dashboard.

One feature I use a lot is the Flesch Reading Ease. That’s not available in Dashboard. If I composed in Dashboard, I’d have to copy the text into Word or other application to use Flesch, and then copy it back again, which defeats the purpose of composing in Dashboard.

I think you were right to provide the advice about the use of Notepad. The only warning I’d give a new blogger who chose to compose in Word is to be specially careful not to copy direct from Word.

Yes Ken I’ve noticed a few people are using Flesch Reading Ease. While the concept is interesting I like to base mine on a mixture of checking its readability and then reflecting on how it looks visually to read online.

You do exactly what I do – that is check for readability AND how it looks visually on line. I do this after I’ve written the draft. ‘Flesch’ is a tool. With all tools I use, I am the master (not the expert 😉 ).

Hi Sue!
Some of my young students write their posts directly in word because they need the help of the spelling corrector for Portuguese. Then, often, the font size of their posts gets too small. In this case, I just go and re-write the whole post directly in the dashboard.
From now on, I’ll try to copy and paste their texts in to note pad so that they will lose the formatting code, before copying them and pasting them again in our blog.
Thanks,
Ines

Thanks everyone and all very valid points about writing the text using an offline method. With the autosaving feature of WordPress losing posts is now less of an issue; but writing any document online is always a risk.

@Gary That sentence I wrote to demonstrate when copied into Paste from Word still brings in code. In the WordPress.com forum they also recommend not using it.

@Gabriela You can also switch to full screen mode in your blog dashboard if you want the writing area bigger or expand it by drop and dragging it.

Trouble is users often write their documents in Word then copy directly into posts without understanding the consequences. Writing using applications like Windows Live Writer is definitely a good option – I used to use this application myself.

I use Windows Live Writer . Works great. It connects with my blog and aligns fonts, has a publishing calendar, text editor, and other user-friendly features. I only found out about it after doing just what you talked about–cutting and pasting from Word–and my first few blog posts were all askew–fonts, alignment, etc.. uhggg! I contacted Typepad support and they recommended the app. Haven’t looked back.

Gabriella: I’m just getting started with wikis and blogs. I want to have my kids post word documents as homework, rather than turn in paper. I read most of the comments about using word, but your use of google docs sounded interesting. If you were going to have kids create lengthy papers, how would you have them turn them in? On google docs? On a wiki? Posting word docs to a blog doesn’t sound like it works. Anyone else want to comment. I’m new, and need help.

The HTML generated from Word is really nasty, OpenOffice is generally much better on that and the formating might the be properly pasted. I have generated HTML documents from OpenOffice and the code is “readable” 😉

I tend to agree with Gary re needing somewhere to write yr text and notepad imho is crap for enabling a good flow of thought to keyboard. Suspect it depends on how “clean” yr Word. I do no formatting from my default Normal (which is Arial as I hate TNR) except paras so the extra html on mine tends to be limited – and yes I do a “dirty” copy and paste not using the Word option. any other formatting is done in the dashboard. I do check it looks OK and I wld NEVER use the save as html option in Word as this adds masses of junk. If it doesn’t look OK (this hasn’t yet happenned) then I check the html. Otherwise can’t see it really matters if someone chooses to look at html and sees the small amount of junk – unless Im looking for a job directly scripting in html rather than using an editor (they all in my exp add some junk – even my favourite Nvu).

Word is widely accepted as the standard for word processing, and gives us an option of where we can write our blogs without having to worry about server disconnects, random crashes and garbled text!

Perhaps someone needs to update the wordpress code so that it can deal with the widely accepted (albeit cluncky and overly coded with html) Word format rather than merely complaining about Word’s sloppiness!

I have not experienced any problems cutting and pasting unformatted text although I have seen examples of mess on screen in formatted text. There are plenty of options to get around these problems.

Gary I will try your trick of pasting directly into the html view on wordpress so I can be sure of what’s going on!

And people, just be thankful that we don’t have to deal with the nightmares of writing in raw html anymore!

But it would be my fault if I didn’t warn users of the potential dangers of copy/pasting directly from Word or any other application into the blog write area when I know how big a problem this can be (since I have to fix blogs broken this way).

If you did the same in almost any website, not just WordPress powered blogs, you face the same problem.

WordPress has tried to overcome it by adding the Paste from Word button but it doesn’t strip out all the code so can still cause issues.

@Sue Waters, I just wrote an entire blog post in Word and copied it. NO coding was transferred from Word to Edublogs. I’m not sure what you’re getting at in the above post, but it clearly didn’t happen to me just now.

@grw04002, I (and I think several thousand others) would be extremely interested in how you managed to achieve that. Is it a setting in Word? Is it some function that can be controlled within clipboard? Something else. Many Thanks In Advance. 🙂

@philhart, I did literally nothing. Typed it in the newest version of Word for Mac and pasted to edublogs. Clicked HTML to see coding… lo and behold, no coding!

grw04002

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Aug 27, 2009

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I have looked into this issue previously. As far as I can tell, it is MS-Word expecting a lot of style information to be present in the document, which style information is not included in the copy-and-paste. Copy-and-paste from one word document to another carries that style information, but from word into other applications (such as NotePad) that style information is not received by the target, nor by WordPress.

If whoever is copying-and-pasting wants the MS-Word formatting to be included on their post/comment, I see it as their responsibility to provide WordPress with the appropriate style information, but given that the style sheets of edublogs is already well thought out, I would not recommend that unless you really know what you are doing.

FYI: I have given up using any form of WYSIWYG editor altogether – they are just too much trouble to get good code. I now just write in plain old HTML and inline CSS.